The present invention relates generally to computers and other electronic assemblies comprising printed circuit boards, and more particularly, to apparatus for affixing printed circuit boards within computer and other electronic assemblies. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for adjustably mounting printed circuit boards within computer and other electronic assemblies.
Computer and other electronic assemblies typically include a plurality of printed circuit (PC) boards that support electronic components. Commonly, PC boards are secured within a steel or plastic chassis for an electronic assembly by means of screws extending through holes in the PC board and threadedly engaged to a portion of the chassis.
Although this manner of attachment is reliable, it has several disadvantages. First, installation of a PC board in this manner is a very labor-intensive operation. Holes must be bored in the PC board. Corresponding female-threaded holes or receptacles must be installed in the chassis. The PC board must be aligned in the proper position, and the screws must be rotated into place. In addition, the screws and other materials are relatively costly, and the chassis, having been adapted to receive a particular size PC board, is not readily adaptable to PC boards of other sizes.
The assignee of the present invention has used an alternative PC board mounting technique by which vertically-extending plastic hooks are molded into the base of a plastic chassis. The hooks are received through slots formed in a PC board as the PC board, lying in a horizontal plane, is lowered onto the base of the chassis. After the PC board is seated on the chassis, with hooks extending through slots, the PC board is displaced horizontally to engage the hooks on the upper surface of the PC board at one end of the slots, thereby preventing vertical motion of the PC board. Thereafter, a small plastic catch mechanism is snapped into engagement with an edge of the PC board to prevent horizontal motion.
Like the method of attachment that relies on screws, the latter method of attachment works well, but is limited to a particular size of PC board for which the chassis has been especially adapted.
Hence, it would be advantageous to devise a PC board mounting apparatus that is relatively inexpensive, as well as easy to install and de-install, and that can be adjusted in such a manner that a single chassis can accommodate, without mechanical modification, PC boards of a variety of sizes.